Julia Letlow Is About to Make Louisiana History

With a perfect track record and the most powerful endorsement in American politics behind her, Letlow heads into the June 27 runoff as the overwhelming favorite.

When Donald Trump posted "RUN, JULIA, RUN!!!" on Truth Social in January, he didn't just shake up Louisiana's Senate race — he effectively decided it. History is about to prove him right again.

The results from May 16 tell the story in black and white: Julia Letlow, entering a race only three days after receiving Trump's endorsement, finished first with 45 percent of the vote — more than both of her opponents combined. Incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, who spent north of $21 million between his campaign and allied super PACs, finished a humiliating third. He becomes only the second Louisiana senator in 94 years to lose a reelection bid, and the first elected Republican senator to lose renomination since Richard Lugar of Indiana in 2012.

Now Letlow heads into a June 27 runoff against state Treasurer John Fleming. And if the primary was a statement, the runoff is a formality.

Letlow led the primary field by 17 points in a three-way race, outrunning a well-funded incumbent who poured nearly three times the money into the contest. Her campaign had only been active since January 20 — fewer than four months — and she still lapped the field. That kind of performance doesn't happen by accident. It happens when a

candidate has the wind of a sitting president at her back in a state he carried by 22 points.

Trump weighed in before the polls even opened on primary day, posting on Truth Social to attack Cassidy and call Letlow "a winner who will NEVER let you down." The message landed. Louisiana Republicans turned out for her in every corner of the state.

Fleming finished second with 28 percent. He'll argue the runoff is a fresh start. But Fleming faces a fundamental problem: he has spent months trying to claim Trump's mantle while Trump himself gave it to someone else. The president's endorsement of Letlow has never wavered, and there is no indication it will.

Trump's endorsement machine carries a remarkable track record in Republican primaries, and it has been in overdrive in 2026. Candidate after candidate who earned his backing has gone on to win. Louisiana is not an outlier — it is the latest proof of concept.

What makes Trump's endorsement especially potent in this race is the context. This wasn't a stranger asking for support. Trump personally called Letlow a "Highly Respected America First Congresswoman" and said she has been "a Great Star" since arriving in Congress. He praised her record as a mother and lawmaker, called her a "TOTAL WINNER," and said he had seen her tested "at the highest and most difficult levels." That is the language of a president who knows the candidate and trusts her — not a transactional endorsement handed to the highest bidder.

Fleming, by contrast, spent months arguing that the endorsement of Letlow was a "scheme" orchestrated by Gov. Jeff Landry, effectively casting doubt on whether he could ever close the gap with the president. That's not a message that wins runoffs in Trump's Louisiana.

It would be a mistake to treat Letlow as simply the beneficiary of a powerful endorsement. She is a candidate who has earned it.

Elected in 2021 after the tragic death of her husband Luke — who passed from COVID just weeks before he would have taken office — Letlow stepped into an impossible situation and performed. She built a record in Congress as a consistent conservative vote, championed rural Louisiana, and maintained the kind of personal integrity that lets Trump say publicly that she has "ALWAYS delivered for Louisiana."

She didn't hesitate when the moment came. She entered the race within days of Trump's post, declared clearly that "Louisiana deserves a conservative Senator who will not waver," and then went out and proved it. Her campaign — outspent by Cassidy nearly three-to-one — still came out on top.

On election night, her message was simple: "Louisiana sent a clear message — they want a candidate who will always put America First and never turn her back on Louisiana voters." That message will carry into June 27 with even more force.

Fleming is not a weak candidate on paper. He served in Congress from 2009 to 2017, worked in the first Trump administration, and has deep roots in North Louisiana. He'll argue that he is the "true conservative" in the race and try to consolidate voters who are skeptical of Letlow.

But consider what he is asking voters to do: look past an incumbent president's explicit, enthusiastic, unretracted endorsement of his opponent, and choose the candidate the president passed over. In a state that loves Donald Trump the way Louisiana does, that's not a winning argument. It's an uphill march through hostile territory.

Fleming has already called the Letlow endorsement a "scheme." He's going into a runoff against the candidate the president called a "wonderful person" and a "TOTAL WINNER" — while arguing the president got it wrong. That's his closing argument in a Republican runoff in Louisiana. It won't be enough.

What's happening in Louisiana is bigger than one Senate race. It is a demonstration that Trump's grip on the Republican Party remains absolute, and that loyalty — or disloyalty — has consequences that last for years.

Bill Cassidy bet that his record, his money, and his committee chairmanship could survive a Trump endorsement of his opponent. He was wrong. Now John Fleming is betting that he can win a Republican runoff in Louisiana while implicitly arguing that the president made a mistake. He will be wrong too.

Julia Letlow didn't just win the primary. She won it cleanly, convincingly, and in a way that sets up a June 27 runoff that looks less like a competitive race and more like a coronation.

Louisiana is getting a new senator. Her name is Julia Letlow.